Stenton

As the season quickly changes, we are looking back on the last few weeks of summer, when Stenton’s greenspace supported the truly magical life cycle of monarchs. From eggs and caterpillars on milkweed to chrysalises and newly hatched butterflies safely tucked under a piece of wood, it’s amazing what the right habitat can bring!

Tureen or Soup Dish
Chinese-export porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Jingdezhen
c.1740-1750
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

This mended, round soup tureen survived above ground with Logan descendants who cared enough about it as a family heirloom to repair it with both staples and cement. Sarah Logan’s 1754 probate inventory tells us the Logans had a “large enamelled Soup Dish.” As this blue and white one does not have overglaze or enameled decoration, like reds, greens, or gilding, this one is not the one listed among Sarah’s possessions at her death. Stenton is delighted and grateful, nevertheless, to include it among the family objects on loan from the Loudoun collection on display in the Parlour buffet.

You can see more of the Stenton ceramics, both excavated and inherited family objects, by going to our CatalogIT database, which is linked to our website: https://www.stenton.org/collections-database

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📝100 field studies experiences for youth this school year
🎓300+ hours of on-site history and science immersion for our kids

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Dish
Chinese-export porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Jingdezhen
c.1740-1750
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

That the large Loudoun dish featuring a willow tree and bridge with geese around the border matches two smaller plates excavated at Stenton offers added assurance to the Logan provenance of the large dish. The three dishes may appear on Sarah Read Logan’s 1754 probate inventory as, “2 Large Blue & White China Dishes,” worth 15 shillings, and “3 smaller ditto…[Blue & White China Dishes]” valued at 12 shillings.

Stenton is fortunate to have ceramics, largely porcelain, that survived above-ground, passed down through Logan generations. Stenton also has an amazing trove of pre-1760 archeological artifacts, excavated from a cistern beyond the original kitchen and laundry in 1982, representing a variety of ceramic bodies -- English, Chinese, and Philadelphia-made. Many mended vessels are returned to the house on exhibit.

Stand (with a fixed, replaced top)
Walnut
Unknown maker
Philadelphia
c.1725-50
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

The replacement top to this small stand may have been added in the 19th or early 20th century to make the surviving three legged base and attenuated baluster column usable as a small “end table.” In the 18th-century, the stand might have held a candle, bringing light to an activity at night or held a lamp and hot water kettle adjacent to the tea taking ritual as shown in this 18th-century conversation piece of an English Family at Tea, c.1725, by Joseph van Aken. A stand stood among the furnishings on the Stenton 1752 probate inventory in the Hall and Entry, where dining tables, a tea table, and a stand, stood at the ready for use in the adjacent parlours as required.

Happy September! We hope to see you at our programs and special events this month! Visit www.stenton.org/programs for more info and to RSVP.

September 9th, 6:30 PM - "For The Common Good: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation" Docuseries Screening at the Philadelphia Film Society. Free event, RSVP required.

September 12th, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Second Saturday Nature Adventure with In Coloring Birding and PHS Pennsylvania Horticultural Society at Stenton Museum. Free event, RSVP encouraged.

September 25th, 6:00-9:00 PM - The Logan Awards Dinner at The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America- Pennsylvania Headquarters. Ticketed event, please RSVP by September 11th.

Spice Box
Walnut; pine
Unknown Maker
Philadelphia
1700-1720
Courtesy of the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel; bequest of Maria Dickinson Logan to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in memory of Albanus Charles Logan, 1939.

The original owner of this spice box could have been James Logan or Isaac Norris. Please observe that Maria Dickinson Logan wanted all to know she was the box’s final family owner, leaving her name and Loudoun address on the rear upper and lower cases, and her name on the jelly label on the back of a small drawer! This spice chest compares closely to another in the McNeil collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Join Stenton at the History on the Street block party on Saturday, August 29th at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania! This community event will feature:

🍽️ Food trucks
🛍️ Local cultural organizations
📜 Curated document display & more!

Open to all, History on the Street is the perfect way to close out the nation’s 250th summer celebration and get inspired and excited for what’s next!

🚨 HISTORY ON THE STREET IS BACK 🚨

Save the date: August 29!

National History Day Philly and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania are teaming up to host History on the Street: Back to School Edition!

Join us at 13th and Locust for an end-of-summer celebration for the whole family. Kick off your school year with hand-on activities and some of our favorite local cultural orgs. Plus: food, music, and fun.

📅 Saturday, August 29 (rain or shine)
🕒 12 pm - 4 pm
📍 13th and Locust Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19107
🎟️ FREE
🔗 https://hsp.org/calendar/history-street-back-school-edition

Charles Norris (1712-1766)
By Gustavus Hesselius
Oil on canvas
18 ¼” x 16” (canvas)
Courtesy of the Loudoun Collection, Fairmount Park

This smaller than typical format, porthole portrait of Charles Norris is hanging in the stairwell at Stenton along with larger portraits of his brother Samuel and a second portrait of him. We cannot help but wonder if one of the two Charleses might be their brother Isaac, the Speaker, for whom no Hesselius portrait survives. Maria Dickinson Logan (d.1939) had labeled this small portrait Charles, but she was not right about everything.